The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association is to meet with Manchester city managers after media reports that the city had planned to devise its own code for street fundraisers.
The face-to-face regulator made contact with Manchester City Council and the town centre managers after it was reported that leaders from both organisations expressed support for developing a code to restrict the practices of chuggers in the area. The PFRA is now due to meet with CityCo, the company which manages the Manchester town centre, in early October to discuss regulation of street fundraising in the city centre.
Roz Hughes, spokeswoman for CityCo, told Civil Society that she had not been aware that the Institute of Fundraising already has a code of practice for face-to-face fundraising, but that the company would be happy to sit down and look at the code, which, she said, could be a “good starting point”.
Nothing set in stone
Hughes stressed that the idea of developing a specific code for fundraising in Manchester was “still at really, really early stages”, and that the town mangers are committed to allowing face-to-face fundraising in the city.
“We’re not against it at all,” she said.
While unsure as to whether any code of conduct written by CityCo for Manchester, if it were to be developed, would be more strict than the Institute code, Hughes did say that it appears there is a concentration of fundraisers in some parts of the city and not others, which was of concern to locals.
Ian MacQuillin, head of communications at the PFRA, said that following the report the PFRA has secured a meeting with CityCo, which will facilitate their meeting with Manchester City Council, about the possible development of a site management agreement in the city. It is also expected that they will discuss the codes of conduct situation.
An Institute spokeswoman said: “We are pleased to see that, in arranging to meet with Manchester City Council, the PFRA is being proactive in terms of best practice and is looking to identify a workable solution in this situation.”
